One Piece

Luffy gets full page NY Times ad, Viz retrospective

In 2013 terms, newspapers as a medium is passé and becoming a tradition of the past. But it's always really neat to see a crazy stunt pulled off when some giant anime or manga character take up a full page of it, sandwiched between articles detailing how ex-President Clinton was honored on the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination and the continuing consequences of the NSA spying programs. And there he is, a giant full page drawing of Luffy putting his best step forward, telling you about manga and what the kanji for "world" looks like, in the Nov. 21st late edition of the New York Times, page A19.

Shueisha, the publisher of One Piece, is celebrating that One Piece has sold over 300 million volumes. That is not only an astonishing count by any measure, but almost as amazing is the subsequent celebration Shueisha has put on--full page ads in various newspapers all over Japan, and each of them tailored to their local qualities. It just happens to include the New York Times. I guess in a way that also makes this print ad of Luffy a limited edition collectible good? You can look at all the ads from the celebration campaign site here.

Viz, in addition, is making available today a free retrospective e-pub which details not only the One Piece manga from the beginning, but also an interview with One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda and also a new chapter of the manga (Strong World chapter). All you need to do is to grab it if you are already signed up, or sign up to do so.